IUCN Status: Vulnerable
EPBC Threat Rating: Extreme
IUCN Claim: “On the mainland, predation by introduced feral Cat and Red Foxes was the major cause of extinction in the wild’”
The tracks of a fox were detected for the first time around the time signs of a local wallaby population disappeared (Lundie-Jenkins et al. 1993). Hare-wallaby was found in a fox scat (Lundie-Jenkins et al. 1993). Hare-wallabies were last confirmed in the Tanami Desert 63 years after foxes arrived (Wallach et al. 202X).
Foxes were not among predators of reintroduced hare-wallabies (Gibson et al. 1994). Hare-wallabies were last confirmed in south-west Australia 30 years before foxes arrived (Wallach et al. 202X).
There are no studies evidencing a negative association between foxes
and rufous hare-wallaby population that has been tested statistically.
In contradiction with the claim, the extirpation record from south-west
Australia pre-dates the fox arrival record, and the the two species
co-occurred in one locale for over half-a-century.
Fairfax, Dispersal of the introduced red fox (Vulpes vulpes) across Australia. Biol. Invasions 21, 1259-1268 (2019).
Gibson, D.F., Lundie-Jenkins, J., Langford, D., Cole, J.R. & Johnson, K.A. (1994) Predation by feral cats, Felis catus, on the rufous hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes hirsutus,
Lundie-Jenkins, G; Corbett, LK; Phillips, CM (1993). Ecology of the rufous hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes hirsutus Gould (Marsupialia : Macropodidae) in the Tanami Desert, Northern Territory. III Interactions with introduced mammal species.. Wildlife Research, 20(4), 495–. doi:10.1071/WR9930495
Wallach et al. 2023 In Submission